MLA Citation Resources

GBS Citation Guide--MLA format--Other Common Sources

Here are some sample citations for sources that students frequently use and are not accounted for elsewhere in the MLA  citation guides. Of course, there are many other source types that aren't covered in this guide. Please ask a friendly librarian if you have any questions or need help. 

Click on the links below to go to a particular section:

Interviews

Cartoons, Maps, and Charts/Infographics

Editorials, Opinion/Op-Eds, Letters to the Editor, and Reviews

DVDs

As with all MLA 8th & 9th edition citations, there is room for flexibility depending on which elements are emphasized in one's project. See the descriptions of the source types below for details.

Interviews

Interviews are not specifically addressed in the 8th edition of the MLA 8 Handbook, so we have provided the following citation formats as suggestions.

In-person interview:

Interviewee's Last Name, First Name. Personal interview. Date of interview. 

Mandela, Nelson. Personal interview. 2 Mar. 2000.

For live interviews via other media, use the type of medium in place of personal (e.g. Telephone interview, Skype interview).

Interview accessed online:

If it is unclear that the source is an interview from the title of the interview/article, we recommend including this information after the title of the interview as a descriptor. If there is no interview title, use the descriptor Interview in place of the source title.

Interviewee’s Last Name, First Name.“Title of Interview (if any).”Interview.  Title of Web Site

            (Container), Publisher/Sponsor of the Site (only needed if different from the name of the author or website.

           Never needed for online newspapers or magazines), Publication date, Location (URL). 

Wonder, Stevie. Interview. Click. BBC News, 30 Jan, 2009,  https://bbc.in/WdGJGF.

Include the name of the interviewer only if it's relevant. Put the interviewer's name in the Other contributors position after the website (Container). You do not need to add Interview as a descriptor in this case.

Boss, Pauline. "The Myth of Closure." On Being, interview with Krista Tippett. 23 June,

        2016, https://www.onbeing.org/program/pauline-boss-the-myth-of-closure/8757.

Transcript of an interview accessed online:

Because transcripts are unexpected types of works according the the MLA, you should identify the fact that you read a transcript of an interview rather than listening to it or watching it. The descriptors of unexpected works should be added after the location at the end of the citation.

Interviewee’s Last Name, First Name.“Title of Interview (if any).”Interview.  Title of Web Site

            (Container), Publisher/Sponsor of the Site (only needed if different from the name of the author or website.

           Never needed for online newspapers or magazines), Publication date, Location (URL). Transcript.

Cox, Tony. "Stories of Coltrane, King, Leave Lasting Memories." Interview. NPR, 20 Mar. 2009, 

          https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102167954. Transcript.

Cartoons, Maps, and Charts/Infographics

These visual media need more clarification to make it obvious to the reader that the citation references a visual source. The GBS Library recommends including this information as a descriptor immediately after the source title, as it provides important information about the source to your reader. 

Cartoon from the Web (No Print Publication Information): 

Artist’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Cartoon.”Cartoon. Title of Web Site (Container), Publisher/Sponsor of the

         Site, (only needed if different from the name of the author or website. Never needed for online newspapers or

       magazines), Publication date, Location (URL).

Noth, Paul. “Hold on, I’m Going to Conference in My Wrist.” Cartoon. Condé Nast Collection,

         2011, https://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Hold-on-I-m-going-to-conference-in-my-wrist-New-Yorker-Cartoon-

        Prints_i12908021_.htm. 

Cartoons from the Web (Originally Published in Print):

Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Cartoon."Cartoon. Title of Publication (Container) [if avail.], Publication

            date, Location (page number) [if known]. Title of Web Site (Container), Location (URL). 

Franklin, Benjamin. "Join or Die." Cartoon. 9 May 1754. Library of Congress, https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3g05315. 

Map from the Web:

Author's Last Name, First Name or Corporate Name (if different from website title). "Title of Map."Map. Title of

       Website (Container), Publisher/Sponsor of Site (if different from creator/website. Never needed for

       online newspapers or magazines), Publication date, Location (URL).

"Migrant Route to Germany." Map. BBC News, 9 Mar. 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35763101. 

Map from the Web originally published in another format:

Maps found online are often hosted on websites that did not create the content. In these cases, treat the map as a standalone item hosted online, as you would an e-book.

Author's Last Name, First Name or Corporate Name. "Title of Map."Map.  Publisher (if different from the creator).

          Publication date. Title of Website (Container), Location (URL). 

National Intelligence Council. "Current World Illicit Trafficking." Map. 2000. University of Texas Libraries, 

          https://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_maps/illicit_trafficking_2000.jpg. 

Chart/Infographic from the web: 

Author's Last Name, First Name or Corporate Name (if different from website title). "Title of

        Chart/Infographic." Chart or Infographic. Title of Website (Container), Publisher/Sponsor of Site (if

        different from creator/website. Never needed for online newspapers or magazines), Publication

        date, Location (URL).

"Salaries Lagging Behind: Change in Four Indicators since 1973." Chart. New York Times, 28 Dec. 2015. 

        https://nyti.ms/1mmAvbl. 

Chart/ Infographic from the Web originally published in another format:

Charts and infographics found online are often hosted on websites that did not create the content. In these cases, treat the source as a standalone item hosted online, as you would an e-book. 

Author's Last Name, First Name or Corporate Name. "Title of Chart/Infographic."Chart or Inforgraphic.  Publisher 

       (if different from the creator). Publication date. Title of Website (Container), Location (URL). 

Nightingale, Florence. "Diagram of the Causes of Mortality of the Army in the East." Infographic. 1857. Wikimedia

        Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nightingale-mortality.jpg. 

Editorials, Opinion/Op-Ed, Letters to the Editor and Reviews

Editorial:

This entry is for an editorial from a website or print; for an editorial retrieved from a GBS database, follow the model citations in the Newspapers and Magazines in GBS Library Databases section of this guide and add the additional information as needed.

Editorial Board. "Title of Editorial" Title of Magazine/Newspaper

          (Container), Publication date,  Location (URL or page).

Editorial Board. "Iraq War Lies, 13 Years Later." New York Times, 8 July 2016, https://nyti.ms/29lA5fq.

Opinion/Op-Ed:

Because it is important to make it clear to your reader if an article is an opinion piece that is written to persuade, you should add this information at the end of the citation the if it is not clear from the title of the article.

Author's Last name, First name.. "Title of Opinion Piece/OpEd.". Title of Magazine/Newspaper

          (Container), Publication date,  Location (URL or page). Opinion.

Edsall, Thomas B. "'We Want People That Are Going to Fight the Left.' Says the Man Out-Trumping Trump." New York Times,

         12 Mar. 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/opinion/ron-desantis-is-gambling-on-out-trumping-trump.html.

           Opinion.

Letters to the Editor:

The MLA Handbook makes no reference to letters as sources. The GBS Library recommends including the title of the article the writer is commenting on as shown in the example below. 

This entry is for a letter to the editor from a website or print; for a letter retrieved from a GBS database, follow the model citations in the Newspapers and Magazines in GBS Library Databases section of this guide and add the additional information as needed. 

Author's Last Name, First Name. Letter to the editor on "Title of Article." Title of Magazine/Newspaper

        (Container),  Publication date, Location (URL or page).  

 Orens, John R. Letter to the editor on "The Velvet Reformation." The Atlantic, May 2009, 

           https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/05/letters-to-the-editor/307380/.

Reviews with no titles:

If the review is untitled, incorporate the title and the author of the work being reviewed as shown below. Do not put quotes or brackets around the description:

Reviewer's Last Name, First Name. Review of Title of Work, by Author of Work. Title of

       Magazine/Newspaper/Website (Container), Publisher/Sponsor of Site (if different from creator/website.

       Never needed for online newspapers or magazines), Publication date, Location (URL or pages). 

Smith, Wendy. Review of Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel. Washington Post, 6 Oct. 2009,

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100602905.html. 

Here is how one would adapt the format for a film review:

Ebert, Roger. Review of Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, directed by Jim Jarmusch. RogerEbert.com, 17 Mar. 2000,

     https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai-2000.

Reviews with titles:

If a review is titled, place the information about the name of the book, movie, etc. and its creator after the title of the review. Be sure to italicize the name of the book or movie being reviewed and place a period at the end.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Review of Title of Work by Author of Work. Title of

       Magazine/Newspaper /Website (Container),  Publication date, Location (URL or page). 

Cayton, Andrew. “Learning To Be Washington.” Review of Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. New York Times, 30 Sep.

         2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/books/review/Cayton-t.html.

DVDs

MLA 8th edition is designed to be flexible, so depending on the nature of your project, you may choose to emphasize different core elements in different contexts. For example, a paper about character development would benefit from a detailed entry for a movie seen on DVD. That citation might include information about the director and/or performer(s) in the Other Contributors section, while the same DVD used for its informational content would not need to highlight these features.

Episode in a Series on DVD:

"Title of Episode." Title of Series, Other Contributors (director, performers, if important to the context of your

       assignment), version (if applicable), episode, Publisher, Publication date, Location (disc number).  

"Entirely Beloved." Wolf Hall, directed by Peter Kosminsky, performances by Mark Rylance, Damien Lewis

         and Claire Foy, episode 2, PBS, 2015, disc 1. 

Entire DVD:

Title of Film.  Other Contributors, version (if applicable), Publisher,  Publication date.  

 Blade Runner. Directed by Ridley Scott, performance by Harrison Ford, 30th Anniversary Edition, Warner Brothers,

          2012.